


That Old Black Magic

by NeoVenus22



Category: Wizards of Waverly Place
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-26
Updated: 2010-05-26
Packaged: 2017-10-09 17:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The stone would grant her anything, anything she wanted.  All she had to do was word it just right.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	That Old Black Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: _Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie_   
> Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.

Alex clutched the Stone of Dreams in an increasingly sweaty hand. It glowed brightly, nearly pulsating with magic, and it should have been hot, but was instead surprisingly cold. She could feel its power, seductive, adding to the incredible sensation of her newly acquired full wizarding powers, the entire sensation making her buzz with magic and energy. Alex was not the sort of person who thought things were impossible often, but for the first time in her life, she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that literally anything in the world was available to her.

Her father, because he might not have remembered it, but he was still her father, warned her to word her singular wish just right. The man in front of her, the one who'd never given up magic for love, cautioned her that if she was careful and clever, she could have everything. He didn't remember her as his daughter, but even as a single man, he still thought family was an important thing. The most important.

Alex's mother clung to Jerry Russo's arm, even though Alex knew she only thought of him as an annoying stranger. That was Theresa, warily letting magic in the door. She sacrificed anything resembling normalcy, all in the name of love.

_Love_. Alex could wish for love.

The stone would grant her anything, anything she wanted. All she had to do was word it just right. If she was careful, thoughtful, she could keep her powers. She could have her parents remember her, love her again, in spite of her failings. Just like before.

But Alex Russo was not a thoughtful person. She schemed, yes, but her thought process was more along the lines of, 'I should do X.' Justin was the plotter, the planner, the one who anticipated things and tried to account for them. Alex just cast spells at random and never considered the consequences. She never even considered the _possibility_ of consequences. Things usually worked out in her favor. And when they didn't, Justin picked up the pieces.

She needed Justin. She needed him to tell her what to do; she needed him to think things through and come up with the best plan. She just plain needed him around. It was beginning to feel like she couldn't function without him. It had only been a few minutes, and already Alex was falling apart without her brother.

Alex realized she was facing the most important sentence she'd ever say. The stone would grant her anything she wanted, and that meant she could have Justin. Not just back, but better. She could have him any way she wanted him. Maybe not so smart, or at least not so smug about it. Maybe not so geeky. Or maybe she could have him not always trying to ruin her dating life.

Would she have it any other way, though? If Justin wasn't so... Justin, Alex would still be sitting around the hotel, not knowing what was going on, much less how to fix it. Much as it might pain her to admit it, and it pained her a lot, she needed Justin. Just the way he was.

Alex couldn't live her life without Justin. It was all so complicated, but it stemmed from something very simple.

So she would keep Justin just the way he was. But what if he was who he was, only someone else? She tried to imagine a life where Justin wasn't her brother. Just... some guy. They wouldn't have to compete to be full wizards. Alex could beat Max no problem for the family powers. And Justin wouldn't be a Russo, so he could have his own powers. Justin not being a wizard was no fun, because who would fix things when she screwed up?

Life would be so different. There was a lot of... well, tension was the gentle way of putting it. It had to go somewhere, so it went to tricks and pranks. What if they didn't have to redirect it anywhere else? Alex's life could be so different. So simple.

But... The thought nagged at her, first in the back of her mind, then louder and louder. She could have everything she ever wanted. It was hard to explain to someone else, especially a non-wizard, exactly what it meant to have _anything_, to have _everything_. With her full wizard powers, everything was limitless, and she could feel it. But with the Stone of Dreams, even the limitless was limitless, if that made any sense. As it stood, she knew she was only on the edge of fully understanding what she was truly capable of.

Justin's master plan had backfired. Alex hadn't even had to really do anything to get the Stone, it had just been put in her hands. It was like a dream come true (if you ignored the circumstances leading to it): no work, all reward, and Justin got taken down a peg as a bonus.

So why wasn't she happy?

_I'd never leave you._

Justin would never leave Alex Russo. Not willingly. Even when he didn't remember who she was, he was still willing to stick up for her, to step in and save the day like he always did. So she didn't have to worry about that. If it was in his power, he'd never leave her. Except for now, of course, but that was due to circumstances beyond either of their control. So the worst had already happened. And Alex would be grateful to get her brother back in any capacity.

A nagging voice reminded her that she wasn't considering what Justin wanted. She never did, really. But even in those last few seconds, he'd been willing to sacrifice. He was missing for his trouble. What had Alex ever done for him that even remotely equaled that?

She couldn't take his family from him. He'd never do that to her, and she wasn't so calculatingly heartless that she wasn't just a little bit like him. Moreso than she'd thought.

Justin, thinking her a complete stranger, swore he'd never leave her. Maybe Alex did have everything she wanted. She just had to do something she didn't do very often: accept things the way they were.

Alex squeezed the Stone. Her palms had stopped sweating, and her mind was clear.

"I want everything to be exactly the way it was."


End file.
